Gaea
Gaia (ガ イ ア?) Is the great Greek goddess representing Earth and the first queen of the gods after the formation of the universe. She was the main conspirator behind the fall of her brother and husband, Uranus, through their children, the Titans. However, with the defeat of his children at the hands of his grandchildren, the Olympic Gods, during the mythological era, Gaia joined Tartarus to generate the Giants in order to execute their revenge against the usurpers. Ultimately, with their demise, she was banished to the depths of primordial hell and sealed at the Earth Altar. Etymology In Greek mythology, Gaia (Greek: Γαîα, transl. Gaea, lit. "terra"), also called Geia or Gé, was the primordial goddess who personified the earth. She was an ancient Chronicle deity and was considered the Mother Goddess of all life as well as being known as Mother Earth. Gaia created Uranus and together they generated the elementary Titans like Oceano (sea), Hyperion (pre-Olympic sun), Iapeto (Prometheus' father), Reia, Mnemosine (memory), Febe (Luz), Tetis (Oceano's wife and sister, mother of the world's rivers) among others. After they were born, Cronos, the astute, youngest and most terrible of his children, who hated his father, was asked by Gaia to punish Uranus for sending his first children to Tartarus. Wielding a scythe, Cronos castrated his father and threw his testicles into the sea, whose foam created Aphrodite. After that, Cronos would rule the world until he was overthrown by Zeus and his brothers. Other creatures were born from Gaia in addition to the Titans, such as the Cyclops Elders, the Hecatonchires, the Giants and the Python snake. She is also the grandmother of all the Sea Monsters. Characteristics Personality In many ways, Gaia is the ideal mother, being caring and loving her children in the first place. She will do anything to protect them, even if it means taking the most extreme measures. It is because of this protection that she is known to be very cruel to anyone who threatens them, including even her own grandchildren. Gaia is also very manipulative and vindictive, preferring that others "get their hands dirty" before her, as she convinced her children to kill Uranus due to his tyrannical actions. Likewise, she caused Tartarus to generate giants with her in retaliation for what the Olympians did to the titans. Like the other great gods, Gaia has a strong sense of territorialism over his domains. She may be a creative goddess, but she doesn't mind having to destroy the lives of those who stand in her way to achieve her goals, as evidenced in her actions since the era of creation. Although she has affection for her children, it seems that her own well-being and self-preservation are always more important to her. After millennia sealed in the depths of Tartarus, Gaia felt humiliated and usurped by the way she had been trapped between life and death as well as having her status as the supreme deity of the Earth completely withdrawn by the gods. She became so obsessed with regaining her position in the universe that she was willing to follow the Points plan to rebuild the Titans and instigate a new Titanomachine just to steal their Sohmas when they were defeated. However, although she agreed to absorb the powers of the titans to break free of their confinement, the fact that she put herself in suspended animation while strengthening and both cried and cried out in agony when she felt Créos's death, suggests that part of her still cared and loved his children. Appearance Originally, Gaia was a tall goddess, with dark, slender skin, curvaceous body and with very long silky light hair that reached the floor. During the first days of creation, she had her body wrapped only in what appears to be a very long asymmetrical rosary and when Uranus appeared, she wore a long white tank top and short straps together with rings, a necklace and bracelets as accessories. Millennia after being sealed on the Earth's Altar, Gaia had undergone a considerable change. She kept her hair shoulder length and wavy with two long flowing locks, whose bangs covered her eyes completely. As a costume, she began to wear an elaborate long dark dress adorned with large buttons, open and low-cut, coupled with a cloth choker, long sleeves and side openings on the skirt. In the region of the wrists, body and thighs, she has her costume fastened with thin dark leather ropes. Because of his confinement, Gaia occasionally came to have his arms crossed and entwined around his body. She is also barefoot. Historic Creation Age Birth and Early Days One of the great gods, Gaia is a descendant of Chaos. Together, she and her other brothers continued to create the universe. Wishing to inspect her work, for being Earth herself personified, Gaia shaped her domains so that she would become the center from which all life would begin in the cosmos, which made her become known as Mother Earth (マ ザ ー ア ー ス, Mazāāsu) . Later, Gaia chose her brother Uranus, the incarnation of Heaven, as her husband. While he alone created the mountains, clouds, rivers and the first sources of life in the world, by uniting with him, Gaia generated the first gods. Around this time, when Uranus took complete control of the universe, reigning over other gods and living beings, Gaia became his queen. Shortly thereafter, from their union with Uranus, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes were born. However, although Gaia adores all of her children, Uranus did not love any of her firstborn and resented them. Although she protested her husband's tyranny, Gaia was only able to helplessly assist Uranus in chaining the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes before banishing them to the depths of Tartarus. It would also apparently have spawned the first generation of the race of giant gods alone, who were also banished to the world of the dead by her husband. Later, she would have with Uranus the twelve Titans: Ocean of Flood, Hyperion of Ebony, Céos of Lightning Black, Creams of Galaxy, Dimensional Iapetus, Web, Reia, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, Themis and Cronos. However, like his first sons, Uranus hated them, but not as much as the previous ones and, as such, he did not get rid of them. Only because of his narcissism and obsession with power, he even refused to acknowledge the strength of his remaining children, ending up in turn, exiling them. Rise of the Titans Enraged and irritated by both cruelty and Uranus' actions against her children, Gaia secretly created twelve powerful weapons capable of taking the lives of the gods and reunited her children, then trying to convince them to use the newly forged weapons to kill her husband and thus taking his place as king of the cosmos. However, all the Titans were ambivalent about the prospect of killing their father because they feared his wrath and knew how amazing his power was, even though everyone hated him. It was then that the youngest and bravest of them - Cronos - volunteered to perform the task. Giving him Megas Drepanon, All the titans were ambivalent about the prospect of killing their father, even though everyone hated him, but the youngest and most power hungry - Cronos - agreed to the action. He accepted Gaia's scythe and convinced his mother to lure Ouranos to Earth to attend a romantic dinner so that he and his brothers - with the exception of Oceanus - could ambush him. When Ouranos appeared to meet Gaia, Krios, Koios, Hyperion and Iapetus, they all jumped out of their hiding places and ambushed their father. While his mother and the four brothers held Ouranos, Cronos used the scythe to try to kill Ouranos, more like a parent he was too powerful to be death, in the end they had to be sealed. However, Ouranos cursed Cronos and said that one day he would be overthrown by his own children, just as Cronos had done with him. Their children laughed, but this was revealed later. Gaia then proclaimed Kronos as the lord of the universe and after Elder Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires were freed, she sank into a deep sleep for a millennium. Shortly before disappearing, Gaia became a consort to her brother Pontos, the world sea incarnate, and would have Euribia with him. Mythological Era Titanomaquia & Gigantomaquia During his absence, unknown to Gaia, Kronos became as tyrant as Uranus in his rule over the universe due to his fear of being dethroned according to his father's prophecy growing and perverting his mind, having even launched the Hecatonchires again to Tartarus and left them under Iapeto's control. The curse eventually materialized, as Cronos' youngest son Zeus, united with his brothers and allies, overthrew the Titans and took control of the universe in their place. Upon discovering the fate of her children, Gaia was furious and mad for revenge. She then proceeded to continuously give birth to countless creatures, secretly conceiving a new breed of giants in a cave in northern Greece near Tartarus. In retaliation for what had happened to her children, she created the greatest biological weapon of her time, Typhon, who led the giants in another war against the Olympic gods, which would become known as Gigantomachy. While in full power, Typhon with his terror managed to make the Olympians flee to Egypt and imprison Zeus in a cave after defeating him alone, but he ended up escaping and sealing the god of the giants after a subsequent fierce battle. Then, as a punishment, Zeus sealed Gaia's body in the depths of the underworld, so that the Goddess could never be resurrected with all power. Confinement Banished to the depths of Tartarus, Gaia was sealed in the center of the Earth's Altar: a place formed by rock pillars and a source of constant running water. There, she had been condemned to float suspended in a kind of whirlwind between life and death in an almost totally inactive state, and was consequently forgotten by mankind throughout the following ages. However, at some point in time, on discovering the destiny of his beloved, Pontos tried his best to free Gaia and bring the world back to her, however, he was also defeated by the Olympic gods and sealed in ancient Egypt, in a deep tomb near the Asuan dam for millennia. Powers and Abilities Being one of the great Protogens and proclaimed as the "Mother of All Existence", Gaia is one of the most powerful divine entities existing to the point of being considered superior to the Four Protogens (エ レ メ ン タ ル の 四 神, Erementaru no Shishin). Furthermore, she is implicitly the strongest goddess, since she was the first to appear in the universe. However, despite his absolute divine position, she was no more powerful than Uranus, since she dared not face him alone when he was the almighty king of the cosmos. Likewise, Gaia could not go alone against the combined power of the Olympic Gods, which is why she was defeated.